20 Best New Books to Read This Summer

The International bestselling author of It’s Always the Husband returns with a hot new summer thriller. Tabitha Girard thought she was getting a second chance at love when her former flame, Connor Ford, was widowed. But, when she discovers his deceased wife’s diary her fairytale ending is flipped on its head.

An inspiring love letter to the five women writers and thinkers it profiles. The lives of modernist poet H.D., detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers, classicist Jane Harrison, economic historian Eileen Power, and author Virginia Woolf are intertwined at Mecklenburgh Square during the era between the world wars and Wade helps shed new light on their work that has enriched women’s lives for generations. Sally Rooney, author of Normal People, is a fan.

In this stunning debut, a Muslim girl from the slums finds herself accused of a terrorist attack because of a carless Facebook comment against the government. She is thrown in jail and her fate lies in the hands of two acquaintances — Lovely, a neighbor and PT Sir, a gym teacher from her old school. PT Sir finds himself linked to her, while Lovely holds the alibi that can set her free, but at an immense cost to everything she holds dear.

Set during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Fast Girls, follows Betty Robinson, Louise Stokes and Helen Stephens as they overcome difficult pasts to achieve Olympic glory as the fastest women in the world. Beyond the podium, these female athletes also aim to defy society’s standards of what women can achieve while world tensions rise closer and closer to war. 

Veronica Roth, bestselling author of the Divergent series, is back with her first adult fantasy novel, Chosen Ones. A decade ago, five ordinary teenagers chosen by a prophecy faced an evil entity and saved the human race. Since the epic battle they’ve become celebrities, but they still deal with the trials and tribulations of civilian life. A funeral for one of their own brings them back together, but then the unspeakable happens — the Dark One comes back to life. They soon discover the Dark One’s ultimate goal is much bigger than the prophecy could have ever foretold.

Growing up, sisters Amanda Foster and Erin Turner were always very different. Amanda always followed the rules and Erin always followed her heart. Over the years they drifted apart, but unsettling secrets from the past bring them back together and turn their lives upside down. The only way to save their family is to confront the past and learn to trust each other. 

Pizza Girl is a coming-of-age story of an 18-year-old pregnant pizza delivery girl who becomes obsessed with one of her customers. Her future is bleak and intimidating. She’s grieving her father’s death and desperately trying to avoid her mom and boyfriend. Everything changes when she meets Jenny, a stay-at-home mom who relies on pickled-covered pizza to please her son. They develop a complicated relationship and soon their problems seem to blend and blur together.

In Jennifer Weiner’s instant New York Times Bestseller, Big Summer, Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her ex-best friend’s life after six years of silence to ask a huge favor— if she could be her maid-of-honor. The two have been frenemies on social media for years after a fight ruined their relationship. Daphne is taken back by Drue’s request but she ultimately gives into the temptation of a luxurious wedding and the prospect of cute single men.   

Bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids, Barbara O’Neal returns with The Lost Girls of Devon, a story about four generations of women grappling with family betrayals and long-buried secrets. It centers around Zoe Fairchild, who is pushed to return to her hometown in Devon when her old friend and grandmother’s caretaker goes missing. Facing past emotional turmoil while unveiling the mystery of the missing women, Zoe and the other Fairchild women must restore their relationships and heal themselves. 

Bestselling author J. Courtney Sullivan brings readers a hilarious and insightful novel about a complicated friendship between two very different women. After a bustling life as a journalist in New York City, Elisabeth is struggling to adjust to her new small-town life. When she hires a woman named Sam to babysit, the two grew close. However, when their differences are revealed, a betrayal takes place with devastating consequences. 

Drawing inspiration from her own father’s time in the Hitler Youth during WWII, L. Annette Binder wrote The Vanishing Sky, a novel about the lengths we will go for country and family. Etta, a mother from a rural town in Germany, has two sons serving their home country. One on the front and one at a school for Hitler Youth. This World War II novel as seen through a German perspective is a story of the damage war can do, and one family’s participation in a dangerous regime.

New York Times bestselling author Sandie Jones is back with a suspense-ridden novel about family and the ties that bind us. Kate and Lauren meet Sundays for lunch every weekend, especially since their father passed. However, when a young woman named Jess shows up at their door claiming to be their sister, they begin to question how perfect their family really was. Kate and Lauren’s lives will never be the same.

Iconic author of Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan, returns with Sex and Vanity, a dazzling tale about a young woman torn between two men. Lucie Churchill couldn’t stand George Zao at first, despite his polite advances. She adamantly denies her feelings for him over and over. Several years later, when Lucie is weekending with her family-approved fiancé, George suddenly appears. Soon, Lucie finds herself spinning a web of deceit that entangles her family and her fiance as she tries to keep George out of her world. 

In Nobody Will Tell You This But Me, Emmy-nominated TV writer and New Yorker contributor Bess Kalb shares the decades of advice her beloved grandma Bobby gave her. Bobby was a force to be reckoned with, and her wisdom is filled with family lore, secrets, and unforgettable heart-to-hearts, all vividly laid out amongst the pages. Bess gives us proof that family bonds can endure through generations and beyond death.

This riveting debut follows Emily Proudman, who just lost her job, her acting agent, and her apartment on the same day. However, when she meets Scott Denny, a successful and charismatic CEO, he offers her a summer job as a housekeeper for his remote French estate. Everything is perfect at first, filled with sunbathing and drinking by the pool. But soon, Emily realizes Scott and his wife are hiding dangerous secrets, and if she doesn’t play along, things could turn deadly.

Bestselling author Roz Nay returns with a new thriller about two estranged sisters desperate to keep their deepest secret where it belongs — in the past. Alexandra Van Ness has her perfect life in the Rocky Mountains flipped upside down when her long-lost sister Ruth shows up to ask for help. When local trouble befalls on a child, both women have to confront their secrets they’ve promised to keep buried. What lines won’t they cross for each other?

Bestselling author of VOX, Christina Dalcher returns with a suspenseful novel about a disturbing future. In this future, every child is measured by their quotient (Q). If the child scores high enough, they attend an elite school with a golden future. If they score low, it’s off to federal boarding school with limited prospects. When elite teacher Elena Fairchild’s daughter is shipped to a federal institution, her perspective is changed forever. She is determined to get her daughter back and will go to any length to make it happen.

In this heartwarming debut, seventeen-year-old Maggie Krause’s parents are nearly picture perfect. But after her mom dies in a car crash and leaves five sealed envelopes addressed to mysterious men, Maggie discovers her mom wasn’t so perfect after all. In an attempt to flee from her grief and discover the truth about her mother — who never approved of her daughter’s sexuality — Maggie sets out to hand-deliver the letters and meet the mystery men. What follows is a tender portrait of family ties, grief, gender, and identity.

Praised by Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness, and based in part on the author’s real-life experience as Carrie Fisher’s former personal assistant, this debut novel follows Charlie Besson, a newly hired assistant to Hollywood icon, Kathi Kannon. Their three-year journey together is a rollercoaster ride you won’t want to miss: full of laughs, heartbreak, and hope.

We Came Here to Shine, a Good Morning America summer reading pick, is centered around the fierce friendship of two ambitious women at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. An aspiring journalist and a down-on-her-luck actress lean on each other to overcome adversity in this male-dominated time. Vivi and Max find out what they are truly made of during this glorious summer of spectacle and opportunity.